Page 10 of The Confidant
Before Addison could feel bad or embarrassed about asking Hunter to the Valentine's dance, I hurried to say, “I’m pretty sure my dad has already added enough things to my schedule to keep me distracted.”
“Oh hi, guys.” Asher stepped to the side when he noticed Addison and Evan. After a quick scan of everyone’s faces, he seemed to pick up on the sudden awkwardness in the room because he looked at me and added, “I, uh, now that you mention it, I do remember Hunter saying something about your dad requiring you to attend some early morning church meetings before school.”
“Um, yeah…” I glanced at Hunter who was suddenly interested in poking his Swedish meatball with his fork. “But there’s also other stuff that my dad is keeping me busy with, too.”
Asher’s dark eyebrows furrowed together. “Does he make you attend those weekly youth meetings virtually, too?”
“No… “ I frowned, wondering why my best friend had been telling Asher so much about our church. They’d only just become roommates at the end of November—months after Hunter stopped coming to church.
Why would they be talking about The Fold if Hunter wasn’t even participating anymore?
Was it possible he was watching the Sunday sermons and early-morning Bible class in his room and just telling me he’d been sleeping in?
A swell of hope filled my chest with that thought. It would be so great if Hunter was still tuning in.
I’d been so worried that my friend was becoming lost.
I was about to explain that my dad was actually trying to keep me busy with dates and random dinners back at home with Xander, when Asher looked down at his phone and said, “Elyse just got backstage. I better run.”
“Sounds like you better,” I said.
“Break a leg tonight,” Hunter called as Asher turned to put his tray away.
“Thanks!” Asher waved goodbye to all of us, set his tray on the table along the wall, and then rushed out of the great hall.
The table was quiet for several seconds after Asher left, and with what he’d said about Hunter and me still hanging in the air between all of us, I decided that it was time to visit the subject of who was going with whom to the Valentine's dance.
I cleared my throat and glanced at Addison, knowing I should probably say something about how excited I was when I heard through the grapevine that Hunter had agreed to go to the dance with her. But I was a terrible liar and a chicken, so I turned to Evan instead. “I heard that you got asked to the Valentine's dance in a pretty cool way yesterday.”
“You heard about that?” He looked up from his dinner, seeming surprised that people had been talking about it.
“Yeah.” I spread some gravy on my mashed potatoes with my spoon. “It’s not every day that the cheer captain gathers the whole cheer squad together to flash-mob a guy and ask him to a dance.”
“I guess that’s probably true.” He laughed his deep, throaty laugh. “It was kind of crazy. One minute, Addie and I were working on our chemistry assignment in the library, and then the next thing I know, there was loud music playing through a big speaker and a bunch of random people dancing in front of me.”
“Did you have to do a dance to answer her back?” Hunter asked. “Because yikes, I couldn’t do that.”
“Thank goodness, no. Nobody wants to see me dance like that.” Evan shook his head, his blue eyes going wide. “I just kept it simple and told her I’d love to go.”
“Nice,” Hunter said. “That’s what I’d do, too. Dancing in front of other people is terrifying.”
“I know, right?” Evan said. Then glancing back at me, he said, “And I’m guessing you probably heard that Hunter and Addie are going to the dance together.”
I was about to say that yes, I’d heard of it when Hunter sat up straighter and said, “Oh, um…actually, I didn’t get a chance to tell Scarlett that yet.” Then he turned to me with a hesitant look in his eyes. “But I think you already knew about it, right?”
“I did,” I said, hoping I sounded unbothered by the fact that the guy I wanted for myself was going on a date with another girl. “Addison mentioned she was planning to ask you. It sounds like you said yes.”
“Yep,” Hunter said. “It sounds like it will be super fun.”
Super fun?
Did he really think that going to the dance with Addison sounded super fun?
Because if that was true, my heart just died a little at the thought of him looking forward to a date with someone else.
Was it possible that he was just saying that since she was sitting right across from him, and it was the nice thing to say?
Did it make me a bad person to hope that he was secretly dreading the dance as much as I was?
